Second Dubia Cardinal Dies

Cdl. Carlo Caffarra dies at 79

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BOLOGNA (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, one of the signers of the Dubia and former head of the archdiocese of Bologna, Italy, has died at the age of 79.

Caffarra, along with Cdl. Raymond Burke, Cdl. Walter Brandmüller and Cdl. Joachim Meisner sent a document, called Dubia ("questions" in Latin) in September 2016 in response to Pope Francis' document Amoris Laetitia.

They asked the Holy Father to clear up some points in paragraphs 300–305 in Chapter 8 which liberal bishops have been using to allow the civilly divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion without repentance or the necessity of continence. The Dubia, however, went unanswered by the pope.

In May 2017 Caffarra delivered a letter to Pope Francis asking for a private audience to discuss the Dubia.

In it he wrote:

A year has now gone by since the publication of Amoris Laetitia. During this time, interpretations of some objectively ambiguous passages of the post-synodal Exhortation have publicly been given that are not divergent from, but contrary to, the permanent Magisterium of the Church.

Despite the fact that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith has repeatedly declared that the doctrine of the Church has not changed, numerous statements have appeared from individual Bishops, Cardinals, and even Episcopal Conferences, approving what the Magisterium of the Church has never approved.

Faced with this grave situation, in which many Christian communities are being divided, we feel the weight of our responsibility, and our conscience impels us to ask humbly and respectfully for an Audience.

An audience, however, was not granted to Caffarra before his death. Meisner died on July 5.